Waking Up
by ATTHS
Summary: From the Fictober Challenge on Tumblr- a story born from a few phrases and coincides with a comet making its way through the sky.


_March 25, 1996_

The phone rang in the middle of the night, rousing Scully from her sleep. Reaching across her side table, she knocked over the cup of water she had not quite finished, spilling it to the ground, the cup bouncing, it thankfully being a plastic purple one she had kept for years.

"Goddamn," she grunted, sitting up and sighing as the phone stopped ringing. Shaking her head, she heard the water dripping to the floor and whined as she threw back the covers and got out of bed.

Grabbing a towel, she stomped back to the bedroom, sighing as she dropped to the floor to clean up the puddle of rapidly growing water.

"How? There was hardly any water here." Sighing again, she was in the middle of cleaning it when the phone rang again. "What?" She snapped as she picked it up, drying the drawers as well as the floor.

"Scully!" Came Mulder's loud and excited voice. "Scully! Can you hear me?"

"_Is she there? Ask her what she's wearing_."

"Frohike, you're gonna wait in the car if I hear anything like that again, I swear. Scully, are you there?" Mulder said at a quieter volume.

"Mulder, did you call me a couple of minutes ago? What am I saying, it's after two in the morning, of course it was you," she said, resting her head against the side table. "What could you want at this hour, especially if Frohike is involved?"

"Scully, get dressed and meet us," he said and she heard the excitement in his voice again. She also heard Byers and Langly arguing over something and she sighed. "Langly! No, not like that!" The phone disconnected and she shook her head.

Groaning, she stood up and threw the wet towel in the bathroom sink, ready to go back to bed, when the phone rang again.

"Mulder…"

"Scully, it will be fun, trust me," he said quietly and told her the vicinity of where they were. "Dress warmly, it's cold out." She sighed and he laughed. "Come on, you don't want to miss this."

"Fine, I'll be there in half an hour."

"Good."

She hung up and smiled as she walked to the closet to change her clothes. Only Mulder, with the puppy dog voice to match the eyes, could rouse her from bed, tell her to get dressed and pull her into some crazy late night adventure. Shaking her head, she put on pants, a long sleeve shirt and sweater, thick socks and boots. She grabbed her coat, gloves, and a beanie, adding her keys, phone and wallet to her pockets, and walked out the door.

Arriving about forty minutes later, she frowned as she discovered many cars parked around the area. "What in the hell?" she said under her breath as she parked and got out of the car.

Up a small incline, she stood on a flat stretch of green grass, many people milling around looking up and speaking excitedly. Turning around, she gasped as she looked up into the inky night sky.

"Oh wow," she murmured, the bluish-green of a comet visibly bright even without a telescope.

Staring in amazement, she only looked away when she heard the distinctive voices of Langly and Frohike trading barbs. Rolling her eyes, she went to join them, despite her desire to want to observe the comet on her own.

"Maybe if I got you a chair, you could actually be able to look into the telescope," Langly smirked and crossed his arms.

"Oh shut up, you hippie. And get a damn haircut," Frohike said back, throwing his hands in the air.

"Would you two shut the hell up? Jesus, Byers how do you live with this all the time?" Mulder asked, fussing with the telescope in front of him.

"You learn to tune it out," he smiled and caught Scully's eye. "Agent Scully! Glad you could join us." His smile broadened as she walked closer, smiling back at him.

Mulder looked up and saw her standing there and smiled, motioning for her to come over to him. She stepped over and he moved out of the way, nodding at her to look into the telescope. Pressing an eye against the eyepiece, she closed the other and focused on the comet.

"The Hyakutake Comet," Mulder said, standing close to her. "We kind of saw it a few days ago, remember? Well, the guys have been tracking it and found it would be brightest tonight. My father had this telescope and I got it out of my storage and well…" She looked up and he shrugging. "You couldn't miss this, Scully." She smiled and nodded looking through the eyepiece again.

The comet was beautiful on its own, but through the telescope it was magnificent. She watched it for a bit before stepping away and giving Langly a chance to view it. Frohike offered her a drink from the thermos they were sharing and she discovered it was whisky after she had taken a large drink.

Coughing, she handed it back to him, her eyes watering. He laughed and took a large swallow, nodding in appreciation. Byers brought her a camping chair and she sat down, watching the comet burn across the night sky.

"So, was I right?" Mulder asked with a smile, as he sat beside her in a camping chair of his own. She smiled as she looked over at him and nodded.

"Yes, I admit it, you were right," she said and he feigned surprise.

"Frohike, bring that whisky over, we need to toast a victory," he called, Scully laughing as he did. Frohike walked over and poured quite a large amount into the thermos cup, handing it to Scully, then gave the thermos itself to Mulder.

"To being… what was it you said? Oh! Being _right_," he clinked the thermos to her cup and smiled, both of them taking a drink. "Phew! It bites good, huh? That's what I'm talking about!" He took another sip before Frohike took it from him, shaking his head, leaving the cup with Scully as he walked back to the telescope.

She handed the cup to Mulder and he took a drink before giving it back to her. She smiled at him and he grinned.

"You warm enough? I think there is a blanket in my car," he asked and she smiled with a nod, her layers of clothes and the whisky doing more than enough to keep her warm.

Looking up again, she settled back into the chair. Frohike and Langly were still bickering, Byers adding his knowledge to their conversation, causing an in depth discussion she tuned out, concentrating instead on the beauty in front of her.

"Thank you for waking me up," she said quietly, handing him the cup of whisky. He nodded and took another drink as they sat in companionable silence, his gloved fingers brushing hers every time they shared the cup of warming whisky.

* * *

They would recall it one night, as they sat outside yet another low rent motel room, him with a week old beard and his hair longer. Her hair shorter and recently dyed nearly as black as the night around them.

"It doesn't matter," he whispered as she leaned her head on his shoulder and quietly lamented over the color of her hair. Saying she no longer felt like _her_. "I don't care what color your hair is, Scully. It's your eyes." She lifted her head, looking at him quizzically as he smiled, touching her hair. "That night in that field, getting drunk off the strongest whisky I ever tasted, the guys arguing as usual, you beside me, that bluish-green of the comet lighting up the sky, reminded me of your eyes."

She stared and he nodded. "Eyes are supposedly the windows to the soul, right? That comet was a window into a different universe, one that changed everyone standing there that night. My world, my universe, had already been changed and that comet, with the blue of your eyes, was icing on the cake," he said, rubbing her hair between his fingers.

She was destined to love him, she knew it, now as much as then. That night as they sat in that cold grassy field, watching a comet blaze through the air as they remained unmoving, their lives still untouched by so many tragedies, she knew.

And now, fresh faced or fully bearded, she still saw _him_, just as he did with her, in his eyes.

Smiling softly, she put her head back on his shoulder, remembering that night of happiness. The guys, the laughter. She let that happy memory surround her, shutting out the darkness that continually threatened to consume her.


End file.
